Another fun weekend with the besties! My plan for Saturday was to get up in the AM and mow the lawn and get the yard work out of the way before Julie and Dan got here around lunch time. Being that my wife is the most amazing human on the planet, she had gotten out of work early on Friday and took care of the lawn (and even some trimming) for me before I got home from work! Since she did that, we had a nice leisurely morning with no need to set an alarm of any sort.
J & D got here around 12:30 or so. Originally our plan was that Dan and I would go pick up our bibs at Rhode Runner in Providence (my local running store and also a race sponsor) and Julie and Tara would go to Scituate to pick up the raffle prize that Julie had won from the art festival. While we were all getting ready to head out, Julie said she was jealous that Dan was going to probably get new shoes while he was there. Then Tara piped up and said she still needed new ones. A new plan was formed…we’d all go together to Scituate to pick up the prize, then head up to Providence to Rhode Runner and then grab something to eat while we’re in the city.
We drove up to Scituate and the woman was supposed to leave her prize on her front porch (since they wouldn’t be home on Saturday). The way it worked is that the raffle winners would have picked their prizes up the last day of the art festival, otherwise they could come get them the following weekend. Julie wouldn’t have been able to, and didn’t want to make us go for her, so she contacted the woman who said she could pick it up this past weekend since she knew she’d be here for the race. We got to her house and Julie went up to the porch and we could see her looking around, puzzled. There was nothing on the porch so she rang the doorbell, since there were 2 cars in the driveway (hoping she’d luck out and someone would be there). No answer – so she knocked and then went down the driveway on the side of the house, but didn’t see anything. We ended up just leaving and on our way to Providence Julie called the woman and left her a message to hopefully have it shipped to her.
Once we got to Rhode Runner, Dan and I went straight in to pick up our bibs while Julie and Tara both started trying on shoes. Tara went straight to the same style Brooks she already wears so she was easy. Julie ended up trying on several pairs and then went with the same style Saucony, I believe. And Dan was the same once he tried on his shoes – he went with the same style Nikes. We’re creatures of habit I guess! I tried on some stuff while I was there, but really was just trying to get a fit for things to add to my Amazon wish list. I need a nighttime/waterproof jacket so I was really just browsing and not planning on buying anything. I was the only one to walk out of the running store with nothing purchased – a first for me!
After we left Rhode Runner, we decided to use good ol’ Yelp to find someplace really close to eat. We settled on Harry’s bar & burger, which was less than a mile away. It had really good reviews and Yelp, yet again, led us to a great place! It was a total dive-y place, with maybe only 10 tables and a bar. Very hole in the wall, very cute. The decorations were really fun and it just had a great vibe.
Julie was photobombing ALL THE THINGS!
The only way they serve all the sandwiches is as sliders, with an order being 2 (though you could add a 3rd if you wanted). We decided we were all going to order differently and share the sliders so we could try all sorts of different burgers. Everything I put in my mouth in that restaurant was delicious! We also ordered fries and onion strings to share, plus I got a drink called You Kiddin Me. It was the perfect “shake” to pair with my burgers. It was whipped cream vodka, oreos, caramel and ice cream and it was sooooo good you wouldn’t even know there was alcohol in it!
We were pretty stuffed after that so we headed home. Shortly after, Dan and I headed over to Planet Fitness so he could give me some strength lessons and different options to use the free weights and Smith machine instead of the silly regular machines that I feel like I have terrible form. We were there for about 2 1/2 hours (including doing an actual chest and tricep workout) going over everything I would do, when I would do it, how I would do it, etc. It was VERY helpful in getting my head around it and now I have a better plan in place for myself.
Sunday morning was the race that we’d been waiting for – the Monster Dash 5K. The race start was at 11am so we decided we’d plan on getting there by 10 to park and then have time to warm-up and check out the costumes. We got there and parked at our usual end of the mall parking lot, but when we walked out there were no road closures or people! I double checked the email and realized we needed to walk to the other side of the mall next to the convention center. A good warm-up in disguise, I guess! We got to where we needed to be close to 10:30 or so, after grabbing breakfast inside the convention center’s hotel. I wanted to make sure I hit the little girl’s room before the race and it was nice to be able to use indoor plumbing. The only issue with this was that the convention center bathroom only has 4 stalls so the line was out the door and down the hall in the ladies room. I ended up getting outside to warm-up around 10:45 and then Dan and I got in line.
Julie and Tara are the BEST spectators. They made us signs and even wore Batman t-shirts and silly hats to cheer us on!
Dan specifically trained using a C25K program to run this race with me! We decided it was a no man left behind situation, or more specifically, no superhero left behind! He hadn’t run in probably a month though, so we weren’t sure what to expect. I told him if we walk, we walk – which we did. It was quite fun to see all the different costumes people wore. Some were really creative and some people were lame and didn’t even dress up. If you want to be competitive and race, run in a regular 5K, not a Halloween-themed costume race.
After the race, we had already planned to attend the Food Truck Bash that was going on a short walk from the mall. We finally figured out how to walk over (we don’t go into cities much LOL) and it only took us maybe 10 minutes to get there. We paid the $8 to get in, which now that I look back on it, was kind of a rip-off. After all, what were we paying FOR? The trucks were all parked inside the outdoor skating rink (which isn’t iced over yet), which means we literally just paid $8 to walk through a gate. If they had been parked on the street, it would have been free. Oh well. The trucks themselves were really expensive, too. Tara and I decided we’d split stuff, so we’d have more of a chance to try various trucks.
The first truck we hit up was Nuchas, from NY. It was $10 for 3 empanadas, so Tara and I decided we’d each pick one that only we wanted, then we’d split the third. I opted for the Argentine, Tara got the Portobello and then we split the Spicy Cheese. They were SO delicious, though I wasn’t the biggest fan of the people on the truck.
Next, we hit up Boston’s Baddest Burger and we split the Baconaatah Cheezzer Meltdown. OMG was it good!! And it was huge. This was actually worth the price we paid for it, without a doubt. We stopped at Phil’s Steaks to get some “whiz fries” to go with it and they were just as awesome!
We didn’t have a whole lot of time because the Patriots were playing in Foxboro (we actually watched/listened to the game because they had it on at the food truck bash) and this meant that Julie and Dan would need to leave before the game was in the 4th quarter to avoid the traffic on their way home. We decided to grab dessert on the way out and eat it walking back to the parking garage. And boy am I glad we did!
Our dessert was the most amazingly strange and awesomely delicious concoction I’ve ever tried! We got “de Bom” from the Wafels & Dinges truck. It was a soft Belgian waffle, with a scoop of ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream and drizzled Belgian chocolate. It was straight from heaven. If you’re in NYC and you see this truck, stop what you’re doing immediately and get one. Well, if you’re driving, please pull over first…but then, GET ONE! I was too busy eating it to remember to take a picture, but trust me! Here is a pic I found online, except for mine had the hot fudge and whipped cream.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend, filled with great friends and good food. Oh yeah, and Patriots AND Red Sox wins to sweeten it up a bit!
Don't blink. Just run. 